Scars
by LRN415
Summary: slight DH spoilers.  What will happen when Ginny wants to go swimming with Harry after the war ends? How will she react to his new battle scars? READ AND REVIEW!


**This is going to be a short one-shot. Please read and review. Just an idea that's been bouncing around in my head and not letting me study. Slight DH spoilers Enjoy.**

_**SCARS**_

The final battle had been two months ago. In that time, there were funerals, and there were parties, and there were weddings. Harry James Potter was currently at the burrow, with his recently remade girlfriend Ginny. They had gotten back together merely two weeks ago. Harry had been to scarred and scared to have any sort of relationship right after the war ended, and both had to take a little time to get used to each other again. Today was unlike any other day in the last two weeks though. Today they were alone in the house. George and Percy had decided it was finally time to re-open the shop, Mrs. Weasley was helping Andromeda with Teddy, Mr. Weasley was at the Ministry and Ron and Hermione had left to collect her parents from Australia two days ago. It was a beautiful day out too. Ginny, who had been eating a late breakfast, suddenly declared that they were going out for a swim, and that she was going to change into a bathing suit. Harry absentmindly nodded in approval of her idea. Secretly though, he was freaking out. He had been very careful to leave certain parts of his body covered up around the Weasleys. Only Hermione and Ron truly knew how many scars their year on the run had given him. Scratch that- they were the only ones that knew he had any scars other than the infamous lightning bolt on his forehead. Harry was startled out of his musings when Ginny came back down the stairs, in a strapless sundress with her green bikini top wrapping around her neck. Apologizing for not being dressed, he hurried up the stairs, and changed his shorts into board-shorts. Taking Ginny's hand, they walked to the pond on the edge of the Weasley boundries. When they got there, Ginny did not hesitate to strip off her sundress, leaving her with a stunning, small green bikini. She, unlike Harry, was proud of the few visible scars on her body. There were a couple of small one scattered on her toned stomach, proof of the torture she had to endure for 'detention' as well as the one on her mid-thigh, from where her leg had broken through shortly before the battle ended.

"Well…. Aren't you going to be joining me Harry?" Ginny asked, quite flirtatiously. He knew that he would have to take off his shirt. She would not let him keep his pride. He was not proud of his scars. They just proved that he could not finish his mission fast enough that he had, in a sense, failed. Each one symbolized a family like Andromeda and Teddy, like the Weasley's, like the Creevey's like every one who had lost anyone in the war. Each of their scars were present in his scars. They had those scars because he was not strong enough. Harry sighed, and looked deeply into Ginny's eyes. He saw nothing but acceptance, pride, and love in those eyes. He did not deserve that look.

Ginny was getting impatient. Harry had yet to take off his shirt. She knew that he had been hiding some scars from her. It was to be expected. You can't go running off after pieces of Voldemort's _soul_ and come back unharmed. She knew that in some way, he was ashamed of them. Ginny suddenly realized that he thought that those scars were physical proof of the emotional scars the families of the dead carry in their hearts. The stupid git thought that he had the scars because it was his bloody fault he didn't finish fast enough. She was going to kill the bloody sod!

"Harry…" Ginny uttered softly "Harry, you know it's not your fault right? You did the best you could, as a seventeen year-old man who had too much strapped on his shoulders, you did amazing. If you think that any one of my family blames you for Fred, I swear to Merlin I WILL hex you! Do you understand me Harry James Potter? You were not responsible for every casualty, every injury or every broken family! You are a hero to so many people Harry!" Seeing he was about to object, Ginny quickly continued on, knowing that he had to hear this, or he was never going to believe it. "Harry the people that died in that war, they were fighting for something they believed in, not because you made them fight. If I recall correctly, you wanted everyone to stay in the Room of Requirements so you could finish of Voldy yourself! None of it is your fault. If anything, be proud you finished it as soon as you did. Think of how many other families you left whole, and in peace, they all have a chance to live safely. Think of all the incoming muggle-born's this year who will be able to attend Hogwarts because you were able to finish a war that started before you were even born. Think of Neville, and how much he was able to come into himself, think of Luna, who finally has friends to call her own because we all needed to learn how to protect ourselves, Think, for once Harry, of yourself, and how you finally have a chance to truly live, and to be free." As Ginny was speaking, she had been slowly walking towards Harry. By the end of her speech, she was a measly two feet away. She slowly reached out her arms, and latched them onto the bottom of Harry's shirt, and pulled it over his head.

Harry's body was littered with scars. There was a small, circular shaped scar on his right bicep, with two even smaller marks just below them, almost like fang marks. On his left bicep was a long, almost straight line. His chest had a heart/oval shaped indentation mid-chest. It was roughly the size of Ginny's fist. On the bottom left side of his chest was a jagged type of scar, four inches long, that looked like it had, at one point, become infected. On the right side, just to the side and a bit down from the bigger oval scar was a bigger, newer looking lightning bolt, almost reaching from his pecks to his belly-button. Ginny could still see his ribs poking out from half-starvation, and could see tiny, barely there marks where, at one point, the bone had poked through his skin.

**(A/N: scars are, in order: from the basilisk bite, and Nagini, Voldemort rebirth, locket, Hermione's bombarda spell when escaping Godric's Hollow, and obviously, the newest killing curse scar, and some other random, malnutrition scars.)**

Harry was shuffling nervously under Ginny's intense stare. He had been shocked by her speech. While he still thought many of the death's that night could have been prevented if only he had been a little faster, she was right. He, or what he symbolized, had made sure the war stopped the killings earlier that more families were left whole. But right now, He was too preoccupied trying to decipher Ginny's stare than to wallow in self-pity. Part of him, a very very annoying and unhelpful part of him, was screaming that she was about to bolt. Just as Harry was starting to believe the pesky voice, he felt a pair of lips on his right arm.

Ginny, careful of Harry's reaction, slowly kissed the first scar. The galleon sized circle on his right arm. She then continued to place two small kisses on each of the fang marks. Moving to Harry's left arm, She kissed down the mark that wormtail had made, also tracing it with her fingernail, causing Harry to shiver. Looking up, she saw that he had an awed look on his face, like he didn't believe she would still touch him. Breaking eye contact, Ginny continued to kiss each one of Harry's scars, ending up with only the lightning bolt. Here she paused, her hands torturously tracing the bolt up and down, while she looked into Harry's eyes.

"You" Ginny stated clearly "are the most selfless person I know, and if you _ever_ consider putting yourself in front of another killing curse, I _will_ kill you." And then, Ginny kissed him. Ginny put all of her pent-up aggravation from the war, from everything into the kiss, and Harry kissed her back, just as hard, and just as desperate. Harry was the first to pull away, but only because they had both run out of breath.

"I" Harry panted, "will _always_ try and protect you. I love you, Ginevra Molly Weasley, and if it came between the choice to me on the floor dead, or you, then there is no choice."

Ginny, as if knowing arguing with Harry would get nowhere, stated that she loved him too, and kissed him again. It was not long before their snog-fest got more heated. When they broke apart once again, they smiled at each other, and decided to actually go on the swim that brought them to the pond.

When they finally got back to the burrow near sunset, Ginny took a hold of Harry's hand, stroked the words that said _I must not tell lies_ and stated that she had missed that one. Before Harry could respond, she led them both back into the house. Harry knew he was scarred, but he also knew that scars would eventually heal, even if they do not fade, and he should think of the happy things that happened before he got those scars, or of things that will come to happen because he has those scars. And that's why, when a four year old James Potter asked him in his most innocent little voice, why his Dada had so many marks on his chest, Harry merely smiled, and told his little boy that it was just a little boo-boo, and that he shouldn't worry, there was no pain. James insisted on kissing the oval scar anyways, swearing that he could make it go away, like his Dada made his boo-boos go away.


End file.
